Neurostimulation therapy devices deliver therapy to treat a variety of symptoms or conditions, such as chronic pain, tremor, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy or psychiatric disorders. In general, an implanted neurostimulation device delivers therapy in the form of electrical stimulation pulses. An implantable neurostimulation device, for example, delivers neurostimulation therapy via leads that include electrodes located proximate to the spinal cord or within the brain of a patient.
A clinician interacts with the implanted device using an external programmer to select values for a number of programmable parameters in order to configure the neurostimulation therapy to be delivered to the patient. For example, the clinician may select an amplitude and pulse width for a stimulation waveform to be delivered to the patient, as well as a rate at which the pulses are to be delivered to the patient. The clinician also may select particular electrodes to be used to deliver the pulses, and the polarities of the selected electrodes.
The clinician ordinarily relies on patient feedback to select optimum values for the parameters. The feedback may involve extensive trial and error testing of different parameters followed by patient feedback concerning overall efficacy of the therapy. On the basis of received feedback, the clinician formulates and loads one or more programs into a patient programmer or an implanted neurostimulation device for use by the patient.